Participation and Democratisation in the Local School System

 

Participation and Democratisation in the Local School System

Richard Hatcher

A socialist politics of education comprises three elements: critical analysis of what exists, the elaboration of alternative policies, and a strategy for action. Its object can be divided into two broad themes. The first concerns what we can broadly call the content of education – the curriculum, pedagogy, forms of organisation etc. The second concerns how decisions are made – in other words where power lies in and over the school system. We have no shortage of critical analysis both of the content of current education policy and of the highly centralised, bureaucratic and managerialist way in which policy is devised and imposed, marginalising the voices of teachers, parents, students and citizens. In terms of alternative policies concerning content, we have some ideas about what we are fighting for. But when it comes to our alternative proposals for the democratisation of decision-making, we have little to say.

Local government against local democracy

Local government against local democracy: a case study of a bid for Building Schools for the Future funding for an Academy

Paper given at ‘From Critique to Contestation’, Marxism and Education: Renewing Dialogues XII seminar, Institute of Education, London, 21 November 2009.

Richard Hatcher

‘…mass deliberation in the public realm […] is an absolutely crucial process in a democratic and open society’. (Power Inquiry 2006, p159)

This talk is based on a case study of the progress of Staffordshire County Council’s bid for £100 million Building Schools for the Future (BSF) government funding for Tamworth, including an Academy, during the period 2007 to 2009. Tamworth is a town of some 75,000 inhabitants in Staffordshire local authority, with five 11-18 secondary schools. It was Labour-led until the Conservatives won the county council elections in June 2009.

I have been researching developments in Tamworth since the ‘Hands Off Tamworth Schools’ (HOTS) campaign began in September 2008. HOTS is a parent-led campaign which has published leaflets and policy documents, held several public meetings of up to 100 people, collected hundreds of petition signatures, and won 1848 votes for its six candidates in all six Tamworth wards in the county council elections on June 4 2009, which represented 10% of the total vote.